Sasori in the Soul Society
by Wednesday1990
Summary: What happened when Sasori passed on? What if he managed to end up in the Soul Society? Who will he meet and where will he end up?. No pairings. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

Sasori stared his opponent down and tried to make sense of the situation. He was in the midst of fighting against the strangely perseverant pink-haired Konoha kunoichi and his grandmother, Chiyo. Sasori had Chiyo out for the count and struggling to stay alive on the ground. Currently, the girl, Sakura, was being impaled by a poison soaked sword. However, she was _healing_ herself even though the pain must be agonizing as he gave a couple of twists to the hilt. In fact, she was even fighting him for control over the sword.

'So there's no point in trying to overpower her, huh?' Sasori thought to himself as he gave a few more fruitless tugs to his katana. 'All right, then...'

Sasori detached the upper part of his arm from his forearm to reveal a hidden blade and rushed at Sakura, his puppet joints making the tell-tale clicking noises that were usually a well-known signal of inevitable death.

"Die!" Sasori yelled, his eyes opened manically, his blade poised up high to stab the immobilized young girl in front of him. The girl was staring at him with wide, doe-like eyes. Her hands were still glued to the blade that Sasori had abandoned, the weapon was still impaling her through the abdomen, probably nicking one of her kidneys.

The clicking grew ominously louder until... Sasori felt his puppet body still and his eyes began to blink rapidly with shock as he heard the splashing of blood on the ground. He looked at the girl who was still standing a few feet away from him and he looked to his grandmother that was still panting on the floor.

"Wh-what?" Sasori managed to choke.

The forgotten puppets that were once his parents were standing next to him, staring lifelessly. Their swords impaling him through his one weak point, his heart. Sasori turned his head to look at his mother, her soft facial features and her long, brown hair. Then, to his father, with the hair that Sasori had inherited, although not his bulkiness.

Sasori looked down at his impaled heart, the blades dripping blood so dark, it looked as purple as his poison did.

"You left your guard down at the very end, Sasori," Chiyo coughed quietly to her grandson, her adversary.

"What?..." Sasori said, almost as if he didn't quite get what was going on.

Sasori looked at the supposedly destroyed puppets his grandmother had been using. It was only then that he noticed the complex looking seal that had been surrounding him. Sasori coughed and a trickle of his blood fell from his mouth. Sasori closed his eyes for a moment and contemplated his situation before letting himself do something... stupid before his end.

"I'll be dead soon, but before I go, I guess I'll do something pointless, too. Consider it a reward for defeating me," Sasori began to the shock of the two women before him. "You wanted to know about Orochimaru, didn't you?

"In ten days time, go to the Bridge of Heaven and Earth in the Village of Grass at noon."

"What's there?" Sakura demanded, after having gathered her wits, even though the shock had yet to truly wear off.

"I've got a spy working as one of Orochimaru's subordinates," Sasori explained, his voice growing fainter with each word that he spoke. "We were supposed to... rendezvous... there..."

Sakura continued to stare, waiting for more, until she realized that he was dead. She grimly committed the information that she had received to memory and looked to the Sand village elder that was still staring at the now deceased Akatsuki member.

Chiyo was still looking at the scene in a shocked silence, her only grandchild was lying dead upon the ground next to his parents. The scene was almost as ironic as it was poetic. An image suddenly flashed before her eyes of when Sasori had been a small child, when she had first taught him how to create puppets.

His parents had been his first project and in the end, the result had been heartbreaking. Sasori being embraced by puppet parents that could never give him the love that he truly desired and the person that he had become because of that.

A part of her regretted having taught him the skill, but she knew that their fates had been set long ago. The gears had been working against them long before it had truly begun to affect all their lives and it would continue after this. Chiyo stared at the young girl in front of her and thought of her young teammate that was trying so hard to save someone who wasn't even a part of their village.

"It's over, Chiyo-baasama," Sakura smiled at her. "I knew you could do it."

Chiyo closed her weary eyes and released a fatigued sigh.

"No, I'm the one who should've been killed. Sasori saw through my last attack, but for some reason, he didn't try to dodge. He left himself open," she told her young companion.

"You don't think he..." Sakura began, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Sakura was trying to understand the enormity of what Chiyo was saying. How could have known all along what Chiyo was about to do? Why wouldn't he have blocked it? Her mind was spinning with the possibilities and she wondered if this was something she would just have to let go. After all, life seemed to exist to confuse everyone. It wasn't her place to try and figure out why he had done what he did. She just thanked whatever diety might be out there that he had told her what she had wanted to know before he died.

Chiyo didn't reply, but she knew what she had to do now. What would be best for the future of her village and for everyone that lived there. Her only hope was that Sasori was in a better place now. Maybe, if there was any justice in this world, Sasori would be with her beloved son and his wife. And, maybe, they would be in peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasori blinked as a blinding field of white appeared before his eyes.

'Where am I?' he thought as he tried moving his head to look to the side. However, the white continued in all directions. At one point he thought he had seen a flash of red at one point, but it disappeared before he could focus in on it.

He started moving through the white, although not with his legs. He wasn't sure how he was moving exactly or why he had any kind of sense of space, but he was moving forwards.

He couldn't remember his name or how he had gotten to this place. He was sure that he had been doing something important though. Or at least it was something that should definitely be memorable. Monumental? Sasori shook his head as he tried to put his thoughts into order. He wasn't supposed to be here. This was the only thing that he felt sure of.

After what felt like hours of wading through the stinging white light, Sasori felt the dregs of impatience beginning to stir inside of him. This was something that felt familiar. This irritating feeling that lit a slow burning deep in his guts. Sasori latched onto this feeling and forced himself to rush through the space ahead of him.

Finally, something yielded. Sasori blinked his eyes and he was startled to find that he could actually _feel_ his eyes and the weight of his eyelids on top of them. He looked down and he saw the flesh of his hand. When he squeezed that hand into a fist, he felt pressure and his nails scraping the soft skin of his palm. He felt a delirious pleasure when his feet suddenly felt the solidity of ground beneath them. His lungs sucked in a shock of cold air and Sasori choked on it when everything that he had forgotten came flooding back into his memory.

'I shouldn't be feeling any of this!' Sasori thought frantically. He moved his newly discovered hands through the white that still surrounded him. 'What happened?'

Sasori had shed his mortal body long ago and he had grown accustomed to the numbness that having a puppet body had given him. The only thing that had served as a reminder for his time as a human was the steady beating of his heart. However, now it seemed as if he had recovered all of his human functions. Sasori could feel the irritation in him rising and as the white before him began to fade, he held on to the sensation even harder.

Suddenly, it felt as if something had smacked him upside the head and the white that had been so overwhelming had been suddenly replaced by an overwhelming black.

When he felt consciousness return to him, his face was pressed into a ground made of loose dirt. He groaned as he felt all the nerves in his body flare in pain. Sasori slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows, trying to grow accustomed to the heaviness that was once again a part of his body. He shook as he attempted to settle his body weight onto his knees. The action failed while in progress and he slammed back into the dirt. He huffed in frustration as the grains of dirt dug themselves into his cheek.

Sasori tried a different route and began to use his hands to grip at the fabric that was clothing him. The texture was unfamiliar to him and the shape of it was similar to the yukata he had worn years ago during hot summer days.

Sasori managed to turn his head to the side and open his eyes fully. There was a blur of green and brown before his eyes managed to focus on their surroundings. It seemed as if he was lying on a dirt path in some sort of forest. His first thought was that he was in Konoha, but the trees weren't any that he recognized as being native to their many forests.

"Where am I?" Sasori wondered, his voice raspy from disuse as he picked up his head and slowly inched his body upwards. Mindful this time of his newfound weakness. He finally managed to pull himself up onto his knees, but he quickly fell backwards. His backside was planted on the ground, but his legs were still folded at the knees at his sides.

Sasori groaned again as he rubbed the dirt from his cheeks and he looked down at the robe that he was wearing. The fabric was a pristine white, despite the fact that he had been flopping around on the ground for some time now, and Sasori felt his brow twitch.

"Does being dead mean that you have to be surrounded by the color white?" Sasori wondered aloud, his voice still sounding like it belonged to his Hiruko puppet, even though he was obviously in his younger body.

Sasori plucked at the fabric, realized that he was wearing nothing underneath, and figured that he could do worse. Like showing up in the middle of nowhere with _nothing_ on rather than with a flimsy white yukata, so he supposed that he could be grateful for that.

After some time, when Sasori's patience had used itself up again, he decided that he had recovered enough to get up onto his feet. The amount of effort and time that he had to put into hauling himself up onto his feet was ridiculous for a shinobi of his caliber, but Sasori figured that under the circumstances he could be excused for his lapse in coordination.

He managed to stumble his way towards the side of the road and he leant against one of the trees. He found that he had to sit once more and he cursed his body.

'This is why I got rid of it in the first place,' Sasori thought as he lowered himself down onto the soft grass, his back supported by the rough bark of the tree.

Sasori looked around at the landscape once more, looking for any signs of civilization. When nothing caught his eye, he huffed and thought for a bit. It seemed that he would simply have to pick a direction to travel in once his new fleshy body felt up to it, he felt another flash of annoyance pierce his stomach, and come up with some sort of plan from there.

Nearby, Sasori found a sturdy looking stick, long enough to be a walking stick, and used to it to pull himself back up. He winced when he felt his stomach cramp in something else other than annoyance. It seemed that he would also have to get some food for himself while he was at it.


	3. Chapter 3

Sasori ambled along the forest road, still leaning heavily upon the makeshift walking stick that he had picked up before he had set out. So far Sasori hadn't caught sight of any sort of town or even a random hut and he felt his constant friend, impatience, begin to settle itself deep inside him once again.

Sasori glared at the road ahead of him and at the stick that he was forced to rely upon because he had been placed into a flesh and bone body that he was no longer used to having. His pace was slow going and just when he was about to scream in frustration (a sight his former comrades would have paid dearly to see), Sasori heard the telltale creaking and clomping of a cart being pulled by some sort of livestock. Sasori hobbled to the side of the road, his feet only slightly more agile than when he had first begun his trek, and he grudgingly waited for the person to make their way towards him.

Sasori hoped that, since he was dead, he wouldn't be recognized as some sort of criminal. It was obvious that he had managed not to land in hell (God only knew why) and hopefully the one driving a cart his way wasn't one of his many victims. It would be especially embarrassing to be caught like this. Lost, tired, hungry, _weak_, Sasori sneered to himself. There could be no greater humiliation than being caught like this by someone who could truly hold it against him.

Luckily, it seemed that all of his hoping had paid off. Sasori was finally able to catch sight of a figure lazily guiding a fat donkey down the road, and the stooped figure didn't remind him of any of the people that Sasori had met in his fairly short life. Having an immortal body (except for one small part) was extremely helpful in running yourself more efficiently. After the initial transfer of himself from his mortal body to his puppet one, Sasori had experienced many perks like not having to listen to his everyday bodily functions, eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing, raging hormones etc.. Also increased thought and memory processing was part of the deal and Sasori could proudly say that he never forgot random tidbits of information or the face of a person he had once met... or killed.

This old woman, Sasori noted, was no one that he had met before and he could safely flag her down for assistance with his pride fully intact. (Although he seemed to have developed a strange twinge in his chest at the sight of her, Sasori wondered what to make of it.)

"Excuse me," Sasori rasped, he coughed a little from the disuse of his voice, then frowned when the old hag didn't respond. 'Damn useless old women, why do they always show up where I am?'

"Excuse me," Sasori said a second time, his voice louder and clearer this time around. The old woman still didn't respond as she started to approach him. It even looked as if she was going to pass right by him. Sasori felt a twitch beginning to develop in his eyebrow muscles.

"Excu-"

"I heard you, young man," the woman said as she stopped her cart in front of him, the donkey braying softly before he began nibbling at some stray grass. "No need to repeat yourself."

She observed him from under a wide straw hat, her dark eyes studying him. Sasori wasn't sure of what she saw, but he took the time to study her as well. The wrinkles marring the planes of her face were deep, although not as bad as the ones that Chiyo had managed to acquire in the time that he had been gone. However, her eyes were clear and sharp, looking at him objectively as he stood with an unsteady gait at the side of the road. She was wrapped in a dark brown traveling cloak, flung carelessly over her shoulder.

"You a new soul?" She asked him, her eyes looking at his thin, white robe critically. "Or is that some new fashion statement?"

Sasori felt his eye twitch a little more, although he tried to hide it by ducking his head a little. It would do him no good to upset this woman when he needed her help. He would just have to play along.

"Yes," Sasori answered. "I believe so. I woke up in the middle of this road a while back. Would you be willing to help me?"

The old woman looked at him critically again once more and scoffed.

"Why are they always so young nowadays?" she said to herself.

Sasori held his tongue about his true age. If his youthful appearance helped him in this case, he would be forever grateful to whatever gods that represented the superficial in people.

"Well, young fellow, it seems you've got no place to go and no one to tell you about the ways of our world. Since the shinigami around here are damn useless, I figure it might as well be me that introduces you to the Rukon district," she said, seemingly amused as she gestured for him to take a seat next to her.

"You seem a little unsteady on your feet though, need any help?" she gave him a toothy grin. Sasori glared and to prove himself independent of trivial things such as _help._ Therefore, he put in his best effort to walk smoothly to the cart, tossing his walking stick into the cargo load, and attempting to hoist himself up onto the seat next to the old woman.

"Woah, there," the woman chided, the amused light never fading from her eyes. In fact, to Sasori's chagrin, the light only seemed to be getting brighter. "No need to push yourself."

Sasori felt himself being pulled into the cart by the back of his yukata as his first shaky attempt at pulling himself up failed miserably. Sasori huffed as he settled into his seat. Not wanting to seem like an ungrateful brat, however, he gave her a jerky nod and started to communicate his ire via glaring at the road. The woman's chuckling grated his nerves further, but she gave the donkey a light tap with a light stick of her own and they were moving soon enough.

"So, what's your name, young man?" she inquired, settling back into her seat.

Sasori paused in his glaring to glance at the old woman. Mentally, he shrugged, and figured that there couldn't be much harm in telling her. He wasn't quite sure how things worked after you had died, he hadn't really planned for any of this, but he figured telling her his name wouldn't hurt him too much.

"My name is Sasori," he told her curtly.

The woman raised an eyebrow at her new young friend.

"What? No surname?" she questioned. Sasori shook his head.

"Where I come from, surnames are uncommon. Although occasionally a person might develop a... nickname of sorts. More like an add on to your name than anything else," Sasori explained, seeing no problem in letting her know this. Anyone that lived in any of the elemental continents would be able to tell you this.

"Is that so," she said indulgently. "Have you got one of those then?"

"Perhaps," Sasori said shortly, not willing to share more than that. Although he was rather proud of his macabre little 'nickname', explaining it wasn't something he felt up to at the moment.

"Alright then," she conceded patiently. "I suppose it's only fair to tell you my name then, hm?"

Sasori gave her another side glance, this time accompanied by the slight elevation of one of his brows. The women let out another round of raspy chuckles.

"Nobuko Hirama's the name," she smiled as she gave the lazy donkey another prompting with her stick. The donkey had slowed down to munch on another stray growth of vegetation.

"Pleased to meet you," Sasori said stiffly.

"I'm sure," Nobuko answered, her voice having an easier quality to it. "So, aren't you curious?"

Sasori looked her way again and caught sight of the teasing quality that Nobuko had now in her eyes. Although Sasori didn't want to indulge her, he had to admit that he _was_ curious.

"About what?" Sasori humored her.

"Well about the soul society, of course," Nobuko said as if he was silly child, asking a silly question. Sasori didn't even bother to react to her tone of voice anymore. Perhaps it would simply be best to treat her like he did Deidara. Basically, ignoring her until she said something usefull.

"Soul society?" Sasori asked in his most polite voice. "I remember you said something about us being in the "rukon" district, too."

"Yup," Nobuko affirmed. "The soul society is where souls go when they pass on. The rukon, or the wandering souls, district is where most, if not all, of us end up."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happens after that? Do we die here and go on to some other plane of existence?" Sasori asked, his voice testy.

"Never really thought about it, to tell you the truth," Nobuko admitted. "Folks don't age here the way that they do in the land of the living though. I'd say that we age about one year for ever 10-20 years depending on the person."

Sasori's eyes widened at the thought.

"How old are you?" he asked curiously. Nobuko raised an eyebrow.

"What? In addition to how old I was when I got here?" Nobuko said as she stared at the sky thoughtfully. "I don't really remember it very well. I wasn't too young when I got here. Might've been 80 years ago or so. I was well into my 60's by the time I kicked it so..."

Nobuko shrugged and nodded at Sasori who still looked a little dazed by the thought of anyone living for that long. Even if living was a term that should probably be used lightly in such a place. After all, very few lived for very long in the shinobi world. Only the extremely powerful or cowardly lived to see middle age.

"So how old were you? Fifteen? Sixteen?" Nobuko asked conversationally.

"Thirty-five," Sasori said with a smirk.

Nobuko's relaxed form suddenly tensed up as her body was wracked with surprised coughs.

"Wh-what?" Nobuko turned her wide eyes to him again as she looked at his youthful features.

"Y-you can't be any older than seventeen," she protested. "At the most."

"I've often been told that I don't look my age," Sasori informed her, his voice having regained its usually apathetic calm.

"That's an understatement, boy."

When Sasori gave her another look, she scoffed.

"Don't give me that. Even_ if _you are in your thirties, you're still a boy compared to me," she said as her face darkened with a scowl.

Sasori shrugged at that and conceded to the truth of her statement. At well over a hundred years old, she was older than his old hag of a grandmother. In fact, she was probably older than his great-great-grandmother. At least this world allowed people to age slower. He had always believed that things that lasted forever were the things that had true worth. Even if it only seemed to be a type of longevity, it was still better than the world of painfully brief lives that he had left behind.

"And what about the shinigami that you mentioned before?" Sasori changed the subject to something more interesting.

"Hm?" Nobuko hummed before looking thoughtful again. "Oh, them. They live in the nicer part of Soul Society, in the seireitei. Their job is mainly to ferry the souls of the dead here and to excise the souls of the souls that have lost their way, the Hollows. Or at least that's what they're supposed to do, the lazy good-for-nothings."

"Hollows?" Sasori tried to get her back on track.

"Oh, those. We don't see them around here really, but apparently the souls that tie themselves to the earth, and aren't excised by the shinigami, eventually lose their hearts, or something, and become soulless monsters," Nobuko explained. "Although that's just what I've heard. I've never seen any of this myself, so don't blame me if I'm wrong."

"Ah," Sasori said, thinking about this. This was all new to him, having never heard of a belief system that followed these kind of ideas. Another question came to him suddenly and he figured that he might as well ask while they were on the subject.

"Is there a hell?" Sasori asked.

Nobuko frowned in concentration, thinking hard on the subject, reviewing what she had heard in snippets of gossip or conversation.

"I think so," Nobuko said slowly. "Of course, you wouldn't know it by the kind of riff-raff that comes through here. No one ever really stays to their assigned sections either. Although I'm pretty sure they just hand out those assignments randomly-"

"Assignments? Sections?" Sasori asked.

"Well, yeah," Nobuko said in voice that was very much 'well, duh.' "Didn't you get any of that before you got sent here?"

Sasori narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"I don't remember much about what happened between my death and when I arrived here. I just remember a lot of white light," Sasori told her, though it sounded like a terrible explanation even to himself.

"White light, huh?" Nobuko said to herself, sounding amused again.

"Yeah, it probably sounds a little...," Sasori frowned to himself. "but that's all that I can remember."

"Well, if that's what you remember, that's what you remember," Nobuko shrugged. "But right now you're in district thirty-six. Before you ask, there are eighty districts total and the higher the number of the district the higher the crime rate, basically. I mean no one in the Rukon district is "well-off" per say, but the lower the district the safer you are."

"I see..." Sasori said, as he noted to himself that it was rather obvious that the hag had never lived in the shinobi continent. No one, not even civilians, would give so much information to a complete stranger, even in circumstances such as these.

"Is everyone poor here?" Sasori asked. "Even the shinigami?"

Nobuko scoffed at that question, rolling her eyes as she flicked the reins in her hands, urging the the slow donkey to pick up some speed. Sasori guessed that she wanted to get to her destination soon, the sun had begun to set and it would probably be dark in just couple of hours.

"The shinigami? Poor?" Nobuko scoffed again. "Those hoity-toity, good-for-nothings? They live with the upper crust, heck most of them come from the upper crust. Not a lot of the shinigami come from the slums."

'Interesting,' Sasori thought. 'I wonder how one becomes a shinigami.'

"Now, you've questioned me enough for one day, young man," Nobuko began to scold him mockingly. "I know your excited, but you can't talk an old woman to death."

The face that Sasori made at the old woman was the blandest one that he could manage. He felt that this expressed his opinion on the matter fully. Nobuko laughed and shook her head.

"Well, in the meantime, since you've obviously got no place to stay, you can stay by me," Nobuko offered generously. "I don't have much, but I've got a little teashop to my name and an apartment above that where you can stay, if you'd like."

"... thank-you," Sasori knew when not look a gift horse in the mouth and decided to just go along with what the old woman was offering.

"I've been looking for someone to help me out in the shop too and you came at just the right time if you're interested," Nobuko continued.

"..." Sasori considered this offer. He wasn't sure if he wanted to work with an old woman in a teashop for the rest of his afterlife, but it was certainly a start until he could get back onto his feet... literally.

"I don't how much help I'm going to be at the moment," Sasori pointed at his legs, obviously aggravated over the situation.

"Bah," Nobuko waved her hand in the air, dismissing the statement. "It looks like you'll be well again soon enough. In the meantime I'll give you a place to stay."

Sasori considered this and rubbed his quietly rumbling stomach thoughtfully.

"What about food?" Sasori asked.

Nobuko did a double take and stared at him long enough to make the puppet master feel uncomfortable.

"You're hungry?" Nobuko whispered.

"Yes?" Sasori replied with one brow raised as he kept his hand over his stomach.

"..." Nobuko looked like she didn't quite know how to reply. However, after a moment or two, she nodded in agreement.

"Alright, food as well," she told him. "We'll be there in a bit, you can see some the houses from over there."

Nobuko gestured towards a gap between the trees and Sasori saw some wooden houses as well as the smoke from chimneys rising over the treetops to blend in with the darkening clouds. Sasori could feel a tension rising in his body as he now considered the uncertainty of his existence. Before, there had always been a purpose to his life, whether he was serving his village or the Akatsuki. But now he was no longer tied to such an existence and it was unclear whether or not he'd be able to regain any semblance of it. For all he knew, he'd be spending the rest of his afterlife with the hag selling tea to obnoxious customers.

'What's become of me?' Sasori thought, his emotions running uncharacteristically on the side of brooding. As the fatigue of the day caught up with him, he decided to leave his melancholy thoughts alone for some other time. He would first have to establish his existence here before he began to change it.


	4. Chapter 4

Sasori gasped as he abruptly sat up in his small palet upon the floor. He groaned and slumped forwards, attempting to rub the sluggishness from his mind by running his fingers through his hair. He looked up and blinked his eyes, trying to remember what had happened the day before. He remembered that he had died, and to his chagrin he had somehow regained the body he had before he had immortalized himself. He was pitifully weak in this condition, something that Sasori planned on fixing as soon as he could, and he had been picked up by an old woman who had told him he was in a place called the "soul society" where he would basically his live out life, again, except poor and useless. Oh, and shinigami existed here as well as demonic monsters that could eat your soul.

"What the hell is wrong with this world?" Sasori muttered as he slowly prepared himself to get up. The heavy lethargy in his limbs was maddening and Sasori would've started building himself a new puppet body immediately if he had had the dexterity, or even the power, to do so.

Eventually, Sasori slowly and painstakingly managed to pick himself off of the floor and onto his feet. He dragged a few deep breaths into his lungs as he lent his back against the strudy wooden wall. Sasori looked up and surveyed the room properly while he caught his breath.

The small room was traditional in style, all wooden floors and rice paper doors. The small, slotted window to his left was open and the harsh morning light filtered through it to light up the room. The silence was broken by a loud gurgling that made Sasori twitch slightly and he exhaled the air in his lungs harshly as his stomach continued its protesting.

"Freaking perfect," he mumbled as he shakily walked forwards and opened the sliding doors.

Sasori continued to use the walls as a support system and he soon made his way down the dark wooden hallway to the open door at the end. Sasori could hear pots banging and a teapot whistling, and figured that he was heading towards the kitchen.

When his feet stepped off of the warm wooden boards and stepped onto the cold, gray tile, Sasori shivered, but continued towards the table that stood in the middle of the room. This room, Sasori noted, was much better lit than both the room he had awoken in and the dark hallway. There were decent sized windows to his left and to his right, but the one on his right let in the greater amount of light due to the impressive sunrise that could be seen over the rooftops of the small village.

Nobuko was making herself busy in the left corner with a low hearth fire and a pan. The teapot that he had heard whistling was now on the table next to two mugs, a plate, and a battered old pair of chopsticks.

"Good morning," Sasori rasped as he sat down heavily into the stool that had been closest to the door.

Nobuko jumped a little when she finally heard her guest over the sizzling in the pan and she turned to look over her shoulder at the young man that was pouring himself some tea.

"So you finally decided to wake up, did you?" she smirked as she swirled the contents in the pan around a bit with some cooking chopsticks.

Sasori frowned at this, wondering just how long he had slept, but he grunted his affirmative and took a sip of the tea. It worked wonders on his sore throat. At this thought Sasori frowned, being fully human clearly wasn't sitting very well with him.

"Well, I hope you're feeling better today," Nobuko said as she lifted the pan from the fire and brought it over to the table. Nobuko scraped the food in the pan into the plate and Sasori barely saw what was there before picking up the chopsticks and wolfing down his food.

Nobuko wrinkled her nose at his awful table manners and sat down onto another stool.

"Sorry that I didn't have any food around last night, but I don't eat much myself. I went to the market this morning and picked a few things up," Nobuko told him as she poured herself some tea. Sasori grunted again as he finished up the last scraps of his meal.

"Nice to know that people still think I'm a good cook," she said wryly as she blew over the top of her cup before taking a sip.

Sasori finally set his chopsticks down and sighed. He wiped at the corners of his mouth with his sleeve and reveled in how much the fullness of your stomach could improve your mood. He almost felt like smiling...well, almost. Sasori looked up at the old woman sitting adjacent from him who was staring at him with her eyebrow raised. If Sasori was a lesser man, he might've blushed, but instead he simply remembered what few manners he managed to retain from his life before and put them to good use.

"Thank you for the meal," Sasori said politely, nodding his head respectfully in her direction.

"Uh-huh," she said, still staring at him.

Sasori twitched in his seat a bit, but quietly picked up his own cooling cup and took a sip.

"Do you think you're going to be hungry like that very often?" Nobuko asked, her eyebrow looking like it had been permanently stuck to the top of her forehead. The look that Sasori gave her was questioning.

"Probably not very often, I just hadn't eaten in a while," Sasori said slowly, as if he was talking to someone who's brains had been addled. Nobuko scowled at the tone.

"Don't talk to me like that, boy," she chided. "You obviously don't understand the significance of being hungry here."

Now this caught Sasori's attention.

"What? Don't people here normally eat?" Sasori asked.

Nobuko shrugged her shoulders.

"Sometimes, although it's more out of feeling of nostalgia or perhaps for some sort of celebration. Often, food is a luxury that few can afford. I'm pretty well off because my teashop is a favorite of the locals and the occasional traveller," Nobuko explained. "But if you want to eat regularly, you had better find your own money quickly."

Sasori looked a little dumbfounded at this. Yet another quirk of this world that didn't quite make any sense.

"What significance does being hungry hold here?" Sasori said, irritated by the many things here that he was ignorant of. Nobuko sighed as she set he cup down onto the table and stared at it.

"Well," Nobuko began tentatively. "It means that you've got a higher than average level of reiryoku."

Sasori raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term and waited for her to go on.

"It's uncommon around here, although it's even more uncommon amongst the living, or so I hear," Nobuko explained while looking out the window, her eyes never meeting his. "I'm not quite sure about the specifics in all this, but it just means that you've got a greater amount of spiritual energy."

Sasori looked unsurprised to hear this. He had, after all, had high amounts of chakra during his lifetime, part of which was made up by your spiritual energy. Therefore, it wasn't that much of surprise that this would somehow translate over into his afterlife.

"Okay," Sasori said as he took another sip of his tea. It seemed that his only problem would be making some extra money in order for him to eat regularly. He could think of something, eventually. Nobuko was still disconcerted, however. Even more so when she saw the lack of reaction her explanation had gotten her.

"You do know what this means, don't you?" Nobuko asked, although she guessed that he didn't if the blank look she was recieving was any indication.

"Ususally, only the shinigami and random vagabonds have any kind of spiritual energy," Nobuko told him, her tone of voice indicating that he should not be taking this as calmly as he was. "This will make you a big target should any one find out about it."

Sasori studied the worried look on her face curiously, still not feeling very concerned. He closed his eyes and sighed again, slightly irritated that she wanted to drag this topic around for longer than Sasori felt was necessary.

"If it bothers you that much, I'll prepare to leave as soon as I am able," Sasori offered, not bothering to mention that this what he had been planning anyway. Nobuko frowned, however, her facial features twisting as if she had just tasted something especially sour.

"Now that wouldn't be right," she said, shifting in her seat uncomfortably. "You're new here and you look as if your still as weak as a newborn calf."

Sasori felt himself twitch at the comparison, but he decided to say nothing in lingering gratitude for the food. Although if she kept it up, he made no promises. He might still be unused to his new body, but he would bet that he could still skewer a fly with one of his chopsticks from across the room. He had always been told that he was a talented individual, after all, and God forbid if anyone ever treated him like he was completely helpless.

"I wouldn't want to trouble you," Sasori gritted from between his teeth. Nobuko gave a little harrumph as she shifted again in her seat.

"You're not any trouble...yet," Nobuko admitted. "And I was telling the truth about needing help. You just worry about getting back on your feet so that you can help me about. We'll talk about things then."

Sasori didn't like that the fact that she sounded so sure of herself, but he supposed that it was a reasonable plan. Once he had gotten to that point he would start working on ways to support himself so that he could leave as soon as possible. He honestly didn't mind becoming a "wandering vagabond" seeing as that had practically been his job description as an Akatsuki. So, Sasori nodded his head to placate her and Nobuko gave him a smal smile.

"So, after you finish up your tea you can try walking around a bit. Try building up some muscle strength," Nobuko suggested sternly.

Sasori fought the urge to roll his eyes. He doubted that the old woman knew more about body and muscle training than he did, but he nodded nonetheless in agreement to her advice. He would first have to do a few stretches and exercises before he started to waltz around her little home. He was going to have to work the awkward stiffness out of his limbs first and then move onto a general work out routine. After he had gotten his body back into something resembling decent physical shape, he would experiment with what his "spiritual energy" could do.

First things first, however, Sasori decided as he pulled himself up slowly from the table. Nobuko watched him closely for any signs of weakness as she collected the dirty tableware. He had a long few weeks ahead of himself Sasori decided. Hopefully, he would be out of here as soon as possible. He really did hate old women.

* * *

Sasori huffed as he carefully worked through his stretching exercises on the floor of what had become his bedroom. Nobuko had given it to him to do with what he liked claiming that she never had any visitors anyway and that the space was simply going to waste. Fortunately, the old women mostly left him alone, much to Sasori's relief. She was impressed with the amount of progress that he had made in the last week alone, seeing as he barely stumbled anymore and he could stay on his feet for more than an hour or two before becoming fatigued.

Nobuko had also deemed him healthy enough to begin helping out in the store below them and, unsurprisingly, Sasori found it as unbearable as he thought he would. The little shop both sold and served tea to a wide variety of customers. Sasori grudgingly agreed that the old woman had needed a bit of help which Sasori provided by occasionally serving to the customers and making the tea in the backroom. Nobuko did everything else. She handled all of the money, of course, and she also sold and served the tea whilst chatting and gossiping with her regulars.

However, while Nobuko thought that he was fit as young person could be, Sasori had different standards. In his eyes, he was still ridiculously weak, although not quite as helpless as he had been when he had first arrived here. He still had a long way to go, but he had already started to experiment a bit with his "reiryoku" when he was alone and feeling up to it. Fortunately, Sasori found that basic chakra manipulation wasn't beyond him. It almost made Sasori feel excited, but he stifled it when he recognized the feeling. Hopefully, in the very near future he would be able to retrain himself to be resemble a fraction of the shinobi he used to be.

Sasori sighed wistfully when he thought of his puppet body and all the other rare puppets that he had acquired over the long years. He doubted that he would ever reach his peak again, but as long as he was able to practice the art of puppetry once more, Sasori would be content... for a while. In the meantime, he would have to endure smelly teashops and tedious exercises for just a bit longer.


	5. Chapter 5

Sasori smirked triumphantly when he managed to make the teacup on the table twitch via chakra string. It had taken a while for him to fix his chakra pathways and grow accustomed to his new body, but it seemed that all of his hard work was paying off. Sasori twitched his finger once more and the teacup tipped a little, almost to its side, and started spinning whilst moving in circles. Sasori felt his face split into a full-blown smile at his growing dexterity. Sasori stopped twirling his fingers and the cup laid down flat on the surface of the table.

Sasori proped his elbows up on the table, crossed his fingers, and laid his chin on top of them thoughtfully. The next step, obviously, was to try something more complex. However, in order to do this he would need a puppet, which would require pieces of wood and the right tools. Chiseling tools would be a must, sand paper, screws, bolts, screwdrivers, hammers... the list went on and on. Plus, it was a little disheartening to believe that this was what was needed in order for Sasori to make something _simple._ If he wanted to make something that was meant for battle it would take twice as much effort and even more tools.

Sasori growled in frustration at the growing list of things he would need to do. Getting the stuff that he needed might be easy enough to acquire at a carpenter's workshop, but getting the money for these things would be a problem. At the moment, the meager wages that he got from helping out in the teashop went towards food. Thankfully, he didn't have to eat as much as three meals a day, but Sasori had figured out pretty quick that the more chakra, or 'reiryoku', he used, the hungrier he became. The whole situation was more frustrating than it was worth and it was definitely going to take longer than Sasori had originally anticipated. And, needless to say, patience was not one of Sasori's strong suits.

First, he would scout the small village, try to locate a carpenter, make an inquiry about the tools he would need, and ask for a price estimation. It would be easier if he had a goal to work towards. As for money, he had started offering his services to the people around town. He was fairly handy, a byproduct of his profession, and any extra money that he could scrounge would be helpful, even if he had to suck up to the obnoxious customers that he had to serve daily.

Luckily, Nobuko hadn't caught on to the fact that he was trying to actually leave yet, or at least she hadn't mentioned noticing anything out of the ordinary. However, Sasori knew that it would only last for so long and that soon she would be asking him what he was up to and, unfortunately enough, she would probably ask _why_. Sasori was forced to admit that the foolish old women seemed to have grown attached to him. When she had been out of hearing range, several of the costumers had confided in him that they had never seen her so cheerful. One of the more talkative old crones that visited the shop had told him that she thought it was because Nobuko now had someone to take care of. Sasori cringed at the thought of being 'taken care of', but at the time he had simply smiled politely and asked her if she had wanted some more tea.

This was another reason why he had to get out of the teashop as soon as possible. He simply wasn't meant for customer service and the sooner he left, the sooner he could return to his normal, more taciturn self. All of the polite smiling he was required to do was going to break his jaw off one day, but if he even tried frowning while in sight of a customer Nobuko usually whacked him in the head with whatever she was holding and gave him a stern look. A look made all the creepier by the smile that was plastered on her face.

Sasori picked up his teacup and put it inside one of the cupboards.

"Sasori!" Nobuko called from the shop downstairs as soon as he had closed the cupboard door. Sasori rolled his eyes and moved towards the staircase.

"Yes?" Sasori asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

Nobuko pursed her lips as she at him and gestured for him to come stand next to her and some random regular. Sasori raised an eyebrow and walked towards the two women. He had thought that they had closed up already and that Nobuko was only downstairs ushering people out the door. Unfortunately, it looked as if she had been scheming something and Sasori had a bad feeling about this.

"There you are Sasori," Nobuko said as she grabbed his elbow and pulled him to her side. "This Yamaoka-san."

Sasori kept his eyebrow raised as he glanced at Nobuko and then at the other old hag that was giving him what she must have considered a coy glance. He successfully suppressed the urge to shiver in disgust and plastered his polite smile onto his face.

"Hello, Yamaoka-san," Sasori said politefully with a shallow bow. "What can I do for you?"

To Sasori's horror the pallid, wrinkled old hag _blushed_ and then, to make the experience even more horrifying, she _giggled_. Nobuko rolled her eyes when Mrs. Yamaoka ducked her head in bashfulness and elbowed Sasori in the side when the look of horror in his half-lidded eyes became too obvious. Sasori gave her a small glare, but they were both forced to put their neutral polite faces on when Mrs. Yamaoka cleared her throat and let out a nervous chuckle.

"I've heard that you were looking for some extra work, Sasori-kun," Yamaoka told him eagerly.

Sasori raised his eyebrows slightly, but at the promise of a outside job for extra money, he smiled extra wide and nodded indulgently.

"It seems that I've been neglecting one of the rooms in my house, the study to be exact, and the roof needs some repairing. My husband just isn't up to doing jobs like that anymore and when I heard that you were looking for some extra work I thought that you'd like the job," Yamaoka told him.

Sasori gave another polite smile and nodded.

"I'd love to, Yamaoka-san," Sasori said in his most soothing voice. "Do you have the necessary tools?"

Yamaoka frowned and shook her head, but said, "I'll give you the money for the things you need, in addition to payment for the work. Ashida-san down the road sells tools and construction supplies, he'll be happy to help you out."

Sasori gave her a semi-genuine smile and bowed once more. It seemed that today was his turning out to be a good day in more ways than one. Maybe he really would be out of here quicker than he had thought... and hopefully he'd be leaving without any emotional scarring from any old hags. It seemed that only time would tell.


	6. Chapter 6

Sasori was breathing heavily as he continued to bang a hammer down on the small wooden fence that he was repairing. Ever since the job he had completed with the Yamaoka's, it seemed that the fates had smiled upon him. The satisfactory job he had done on their ceiling had led him to more job opportunities and he had been able to keep the tools that he had used during his first job.

After the Yamaoka's had recomended him to their more well-to-do friends, Sasori had been recieving a steady income from the odd jobs that he had managed to acquire. Plus, he had managed to collect many of the odd ends and bits that he would need to help him complete his first puppet project in the soul society.

Nobuko was pleased that he was getting his own money. Although whenever he had to leave the shop to go to work, she always had the same look on her face, one that Sasori ignored and didn't really want to put a name to. All that mattered was that he had all the things he needed in order to make something small so that he could continue his chakra exercises. He had continued his practice on small inanimate objects, but he had long ago mastered such a thing and he was essentially just biding his time.

Sasori put the last finishing touches on the fence and nodded to himself; the fence matched up to his views of perfection. Sasori dropped his hammer onto the small pile of tools he had been using and tugged at the tie that had been holding back the sleeves of his light robe. Another perk of having money was that he was finally able to increase his wardrobe to something a little more suitable. Before he had been stuck with his simple white yukata and the work robe that Nobuko had gotten him.

Now, he had several different robes (he had tried to get them to make him some pants, but the idea hadn't translated very well. Apparently very few people here actually wore pants). They were all thicker than the flimsy white cotton yukata that he had woken up in and also in darker colors (mainly maroon, dark green, and black). He had even bought some that were made for harsher weather, even though the area that they were in is known for its mild weather. Sasori knew that he would be ready to leave sooner rather than later and he wanted to be prepared when he was ready to go.

When Sasori had collected his pay and said his goodbyes to his most recent employer, he made his way back to the small teashop with a rare smile on his face. The man that he had just helped out had given him the extra wood from repairing the fences which gave him enough materials to start on his work.

Sasori, when he finally reached the shop, slipped in through the front and walked through the empty room to the set of stairs in the back. It seemed that Nobuko had already finished up for the day and Sasori wouldn't have to help her out. Unfortunately, that also opened up the possibility that Nobuko would possibly bother him upstairs, if she wasn't out already doing errands or something.

"Nobuko?" Sasori called when he reached the top of the stairs.

Sasori had thought he heard something in one of the back rooms down the hall, but when he went to check the room, there was nothing there. Sasori narrowed his eyes and checked the kitchen. Nothing. Sasori smirked and took all of his things to his room. A corner of his room was devoted to his project. Luckily, Nobuko hadn't really said anything about it and when she had asked he had told her that he a working on a hobby of his. She had looked at him a little oddly, but in the end she had simply shrugged and gone about her business.

Sasori set up his workplace, picked up his wood carving tools, and one of the smaller planks of wood. He smirked as he began his work.

* * *

Nobuko sighed as she came back from the market. She had taken to going shopping once a week for Sasori's meals. Although Sasori only ate once every day or two, Nobuko found that she enjoyed having a reason to cook regularly again. In fact, she found that she was simply happier than she had been in a very long time. Having the teashop had given her something to do over these long years, but having Sasori there had brought a new purpose and a kind of light to her life that hadn't existed here in the Soul Society when she had gotten here.

It reminded her of the family that she had been apart of when she had still been alive rather than the lonely existence that she had been living. Although most people, when they arrived in the rukon district, gravitated to other people and formed family units, Nobuko had never felt particularly close to any of the people that she had met. However, ever since she had first met the waif-like redhead on the side of the road, she had been drawn to the strange young man.

His strange behavior seemed to be increasing daily, but Nobuko just chalked it up to Sasori's method of adjusting to his new life here. She hoped that all the jobs that he was doing around the neighborhood would help him form bonds with the people here. Although he wasn't exactly enthusiastic about serving customers, he was able to multitask well enough with both his job at the teashop and his other jobs. The money that he made was more than enough to support his eating habit and Nobuko was happy to see that he had taken up some sort of wood working hobby. At first she had been worried that he might not be able to adjust or that he might be shunned because of his high level of reiryoku, but everything seemed to have worked itself out.

Nobuko placed all of her purchases in their proper places in the kitchen and decided to check up on Sasori. He should have been back from his latest job a few hours ago even though she hadn't been home to greet him. Nobuko shuffled down the small hallway to Sasori's room and knocked on the door.

"Sasori? Are you here?" Nobuko asked as she poked her head into the room.

Nobuko felt one of her eyebrows raise when she saw Sasori sitting on the floor in the far corner of his room completely focused on the wood and the tools in front of him.

"Eh? Sasori?" Nobuko asked quizzically as she moved closer. "What are you doing?"

Sasori finally stopped sanding the small wooden figure in front of him to look up at her.

"Hello," Sasori said as he brought his attention back to his work.

Nobuko squinted at the small thing and wondered what it was for. The figure suggested the form of a human, and looked to be in proportion, but she couldn't figure out why Sasori would make something like this. Perhaps he was simply trying to test his skills. When Nobuko looked a little closer she noticed that the little wooden man had working joints and a movable torso. In fact, it looked as if Sasori had tried to make it so that it would be able to copy human movement as much as possible.

'It almost looks like it should be some sort of puppet,' Nobuko thought. 'But there's no strings.'

"What's this for?" Nobuko asked aloud.

Sasori stopped sanding the wood to a fine finish to look up at the old women and shrug.

"I don't know," Sasori answered vaguely. Nobuko narrowed his eyes at him, sensing the lie behind the vague response. Although she wasn't very sure why Sasori would lie about something like this.

"I just felt like making something," Sasori said, placing the figurine down softly onto some folded cloth.

"Well, alright," Nobuko said, still looking at him suspiciously whilst rubbing her nose a little bit to hide it. She stepped back so that Sasori would be able to get up and dust off the wood shavings from his clothes.

"Is it time for dinner?" Sasori asked.

Nobuko shook her head, putting her hands on her hips and huffed at him.

"I only just got back from the market," Nobuko told him.

Sasori hummed and nodded, putting his forearms into his sleeves.

"Do you want me to help or something?" Sasori offered warily, obviously not wanting Nobuko to want him to do something. Nobuko seemed to find this amusing and she chortled a little bit and slapped Sasori on the back, making his eyes narrow slightly.

"No need for that, boy," Nobuko said, waving her hand dismissively as she turned to walk out of the room. "I remember the last time you tried to 'cook'. It didn't exactly end well, did it?"

Sasori grumbled slightly at the memory. It was one of the days that Nobuko had to make a trip to the adjacent towns for supplies, what she had been doing when he had first met her, and he had started to feel some hunger pains. Although he had never really had to prepare his own food while alive, having lived with his grandmother the entire time that he had actually needed to eat food, he had figured that it couldn't be too hard. Unfortunately, he had apparently underestimated what he was capable of in the kitchen. One of the neighbors had thankfully seen the smoke coming from one of the windows and had helped Sasori extinguish the flames quickly.

It had taken weeks for Sasori to live it down when Nobuko had gotten back the following day. In fact, in some ways he still hadn't.

"Whatever," Sasori mumbled. "Well then, if you don't need me..."

"I'll call you when I'm done," Nobuko said, Sasori nodding his understanding as he sat down in front of his tools again.

Nobuko shook her head as he simply dived back into his work once more. This time it looked like he was going to build something new. It seemed that she would have to come and get him herself when she had finished making food. Sasori was unusually absorbed in this work, unlike anything else that he did for her or around town.

'Well, everyone needs a hobby,' Nobuko reassured herself. Although any words she thought of to comfort herself couldn't get rid of the feeling of uneasiness that had begun to settle into her stomach.

00000000000000000000000000

Sasori fiddled with some of the peices of wood until he was sure that Nobuko was gone and had started to busy herself in the kitchen. He peeked over his shoulder at the entrance of his door just in case and when he was sure that he was not going to be interrupted, he put down the tools in his hand and picked up the small puppet he had just completed.

Sasori lifted his hand and attached chakra strings to the puppet. The puppet looked as if it had been suddenly struck with a bolt of life, it's small limbs clicking and shaking like most puppets did. Sasori began twitches his fingers, testing the puppet for faulty construction and himself for weakness in his technique.

Sasori smiled when his puppet managed a few laps around the room and a flip or two in the air. The puppet itself could benefit from a tweaking or two, but Sasori was, overall, rather proud of his new puppet. He let the puppet drop onto the cloth once more and began to think of his situation.

He was fully prepared now to go off on his own whenever he liked. His physical health was fully restored along with his abilities. He had all of the tools and materials that he needed as well. Perhaps, he could benefit from making a spare puppet, but after that he would simply save up money from his job and wait for the opportune moment. Leaving as soon as possible would be for the best, if Sasori had to stay in this slow-paced town any longer, he truly would lose his mind. Maybe, if Nobuko had been telling the truth, he could look into becoming a shinigami. It would give him something to do, at the very least.

* * *

It had been a week or so since Nobuko had come back from the market that one afternoon to find Sasori cooped up in his room and although the strange feeling in her stomach hadn't quite left, it had made itself quiet enough that Nobuko could forget about it for a while. Nobuko was currently setting Sasori's food down on the table when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway and looked up, startled. Instead of bothering to call him into the kitchen, she had been planning to go and get him herself. However, it seemed that he had beat her to it.

"Oh, Sasori," Nobuko said, her was blank in shock for a few moments before she gestured towards the food that was laying on the table. "You're just in time."

"Ah," Sasori grunted as he looked at the food and sat down.

Nobuko shook her head and got her teacup. Although she herself didn't need to eat very often, if at all, she liked to accompany Sasori while he took his meal. It was a nice way of winding down after a long day and then the two would go their own separate ways.

It seemed that this night would be no different. Sasori inhaled his food like he usually did, calmly sipped at his tea, and got up to wash his dishes. During this, Nobuko would sip her own tea and maybe chat about the day, Sasori grunting all the while in response.

And although this night seemed no different than all the others, there _was_ something different about it that made Nobuko wary, made her hesitant to speak. It was that feeling that had buried itself into the pit of her stomach. A feeling that only seemed to be blossoming as the night grew long.

Nobuko was still mechanically sipping at her tea as Sasori finished cleaning up, and this is where the routine deviated from the average evening. Usually Sasori would simply leave, sometimes waving a hand, sometimes mumbling his goodnight, but this time he surprised her by standing silently in front of her for a few moments, an odd look in his half-lidded eyes. Nobuko's eyes had widened in response, she was unsure how to read this awkward energy that was floating in the air, but it kept her from commenting on the sudden strange behavior. Suddenly, Sasori gave her a shallow bow, holding it for a few seconds before standing up straight once again.

"Thank-you for the meal," Sasori thanked her in his light monotone voice.

"Your welcome," Nobuko replied automatically, not really understanding what was going on exactly.

Sasori looked at her critically for another moment before he nodded and turned to leave the room. Nobuko stared at his retreating form and when he finally disappeared from sight she stared down at the cup in her old, wrinkled hands. She wondered why the feeling in her stomach had stopped bothering her. In fact, she felt empty, in a way. For some reason it had felt like they had been saying good-bye to each other. Her heart seemed to be telling her that Sasori had been thanking her for a place to stay and that they had been saying goodbye.

Nobuko berated herself for being a silly, old women and she told herself that she was simply being emotional, but the tears that slid down her cheeks and onto the rough wooden table told a different story. In the morning, she would see that she had been right. She was a silly woman, but now, she was a silly woman that was all alone.

* * *

Sasori finished packing up all of the things that he had acquired over the past month or so. All his clothes had been packed first, then all of the things related to making puppets had been packed in his sturdy knapsack next after that, then his sleeping blanket, the two simple puppets that he had made in the past week, and lastly the preserved food that he had gotten a few days ago along with the money that he had been saving up for quite some time.

Sasori grabbed his pair of sandals, his spare pair having been packed with his clothes, and he moved swiftly out of the door not making a sound. He passed by the old woman's room without a single glance and headed down the stairs, keeping his steps light and nimble. He rushed through the small teashop and out into the street.

When Sasori stood outside in the fresh air, he took a deep lungful of air and released it. Although it was late, the night sky lit his way with the stars and the waxing moon. Sasori stared at the stars for a moment, looking a little puzzled at the unfamiliar star constellations, and looked back at the little teashop he had called home for a brief amount of time.

Sasori would normally loathe admitting any sort of emotional attachment to _anything_, but he had to admit that he was _a little_ grateful towards the old hag. She honestly didn't have to put up with housing him, feeding him, and giving him a job. Plus the other little things that she had done for him that he probably hadn't really taken note of. Sure, he really hated old women, but she wasn't too bad. At least she didn't remind of Chiyo too much... at least in not an overwhelmingly obvious way. That would have just pissed him off... probably.

Either way, it didn't matter much now. It was long past the time that he should've left this small town. In the end, a former S-rank criminal didn't really belong working in a teashop, helping out old grannies. He could make his own way in this strange new world and perhaps he would be able to discover some new purpose to make it worthwhile.


	7. Chapter 7

Sasori rubbed at his sweaty forehead as he trudged down one of the many dirt roads that seemed to connect all of the districts together. It had been a few days since he had left the old women behind in district thirty-six and his travels so far had been easy going. Even though he had been sleeping in a bed for the past few months, he easily grown re-accustomed to the simple life-style that traveling required of you. He had never been particularly picky about the way that he lived and as a ninja he definitely hadn't been soft or spoiled or anything like that. In fact, it put him more at ease than living safely and comfortably ever could.

However, by Sasori's calculations, he would need to arrive at some sort of town pretty soon. He was starting to run low on the food he had brought with him and even though he didn't mind searching for his food in the wild, it would be much easier to find a town and pick a few things up so that he could keep moving. Although Sasori didn't feel like rushing, it wasn't like he was going to be hunted down just because he left, he didn't feel like slowing down either. He had been inactive and complacent for so long that he just felt like going as far as he could in the least amount of time possible. For once, he didn't even care where he was going either.

If anything, Sasori was kind of looking forward to the districts with higher numbers. it had been a while since he had been able to have a proper fight with someone, _anyone_, and it would be interesting to see what the people here were truly capable of. Did the longer lifespan effect their skills? Perhaps having more time to hone your abilities made them exponentially more powerful than the people he had fought while in the living world. Sasori was especially excited about observing a shinigami. From the descriptions that he had been able to pick up from both Nobuko and the locals, it sounded like the shinigami was this world's equivalent to the ninja in his own world.

The two groups were both militaristic, the powers that gave you the ability to become one was hereditary more often than not, they kept the peace to some degree, and many people were suspicious of them. Of course, there were many differences as well, but Sasori was only making a rough comparison. He didn't think that he would actually _become _a shinigami, although learning the shinigami arts that were talked about so reverently and with hushed voices would certainly prove to be interesting. Sasori had already proved that there was some sort of connection between the chakra system he was used to using and the one that the shinigami used here. Learning what else he was capable of here would have been a great experiment.

Sasori shrugged, why bother thinking about the improbable. It would be wiser to use his time to think of a way to earn some money. Although he did have a decent amount saved up, that wouldn't last forever and sooner or later he would be out. Sasori sighed irritably. Perhaps when he reached a town he would be able to think of some good ideas. Doing random jobs for people only really worked when the townsfolk knew you or you were a harmless acquaintance. The people here seemed to be even less trusting of strangers than they were in Sasori's own world, and since a lot of the people he had met while alive had been highly paranoid shinobi, it certainly was an accomplishment.

"Until tomorrow then," Sasori said aloud. Night was already darkening the sky and soon he would have to stop and rest. Tomorrow was the day for action, for now, it was time for rest.

* * *

Sasori blinked widely when he finally got to the town he was sure was there. He was unsure of what district he was in, if he had even gotten to another district, but the small town here was definitely different than the one that he had left. Nobuko's town was respectable and, although Sasori wouldn't call them _rich_, they were all fairly well off. On the other hand, _this_ town wasn't as nice. The people were dirtier and looked irritable, homeless children were constantly running through the crowds of people, occasionally stealing or pickpocketing. Sasori had already grabbed a thin wrist or two and threatened to snap it.

It seemed unlikely that Sasori would be able to get any jobs here, although he would ask around anyway just in case. First, he would see what they had to sell here. He wanted to pick up some more preserved foods and maybe eat lunch somewhere, if there was anyplace decent to go.

As it turned out, the market place really wasn't selling anything that Sasori would've considered _edible_ and when he asked people if there were any jobs that he could do around town, the replies he got were either paranoid stares or harsh laughter. After finally giving up and simply asking the next decent looking person what district he was in, he learned that he was currently in district fourty-two.

'Well, that makes more sense,' Sasori thought as he leaned against one of the shoddy wooden houses on the side of the road. 'I wonder what order the districts are in.'

He decided to keep moving after a while. He couldn't go back to where he came from, but he planned to ask the next person that came along what other districts were close by and how he could get to the lowest numbered district. Nothing would get done if he kept on walking into districts that were the same or worse than the one he was in currently. Especially since it seemed that seeking out the higher districts wouldn't be worth the time.

When Sasori made it out onto the main road that led out of town and had walked a fair amount, he paused for a moment, head cocked to the side. He thought he felt a faint trembling in the ground... What was that? ...It almost sounded like the sound of hooves coming his way.

Sasori realized quickly that it _was _the sound of hooves stampeding towards him and that he was standing in the middle of the only road in the area. He turned to look behind him and his heavy lidded eyes widened for a moment when he realized that five men riding large boars where headed towards him.

Sasori moved to the side of the road swiftly and was narrowly missed by the gang of boar-riders that had almost ran him over. Sasori coughed a little at the dust cloud that had been kicked up as a result of the whole incident.

"Whoa there Bonnie-chan!" a voice called out and Sasori realized that he wouldn't be rid of the five idiots so quickly.

The five of them all turned so that their leader, a fat, ugly looking man with goggles on his face, was in the front and facing the unamused figure of the ex-Akatsuki member.

"What... the hell is this?" Sasori muttered to himself when the leader dismounted his boar and strode over to him.

The stranger's stance was aggressive and he was easily twice as big as Sasori was, although Sasori could tell that if push came to shove Sasori could beat him in a fight.

"Now fellas, what do we have here?" the man said jeeringly to his comrades as he pulled off his goggles. The rest of his 'gang' smirked and chuckled, leering down at Sasori from atop of there 'steeds'.

Sasori rolled his eyes and met the man's beady gaze without flinching as he stood directly in front of him, invading Sasori's very large personal bubble.

"So," the man glared narrowly at him, Sasori kept an impassive face and stared at the man's crooked nose. "You're the guy that everyone in town is talking about..."

Sasori blinked his eyes at this. What was this fat idiot talking about?

"Pardon?" Sasori said aloud. The man scoffed and continued to stare him down in a way that Sasori assumed was supposed to be intimidating.

"You. You're the guy that everyone back in town has been talking about," the man explained. "Asking questions, freaking everyone out."

Sasori hadn't really known that he had been making that kind of impression on the townspeople, but he wasn't really known for his human interaction skills, so it was entirely possible.

"Asking questions is a crime?" Sasori replied, his tone flat. Why was he always being forced to suffer fools?

"No," the man grunted, his eyes narrowing further. "But they didn't like the look of you and I don't either for that matter. No one really likes wanderers. What's your name kid?"

Sasori found that it was his turn to narrow his eyes. He _despised_ being called a child. He had long since earned the right to be called an adult while this waste of space was still struggling out of the adolescent mindset it seemed.

"My name is none of your business," Sasori told him coolly, moving back a step so that the man wasn't in his face. "And I'm leaving."

"Hey!" the man shouted, grabbing onto Sasori's shoulder. "Respect your elders, kid. Answer my question! What's your name?"

Sasori grabbed onto the stranger's wrist and squeezed. The man winced, but he didn't back down or let go. Sasori was mildly impressed, although he had never actually known for his physical strength so perhaps it really wasn't worth the impression.

"It's rude, don't you think, to ask for someone's name before you tell them your own," Sasori countered. "And besides, I'm just passing by, really. Unless you chase down and interrogate all of the travelers that walk through town."

The man grunted at that, sneering at the young boy that was talking down to him. However, he couldn't quite argue with the first point.

"My name is Ganju Shiba," he proclaimed proudly. "And normally it isn't a problem, unless there's suspicious activity. The head of the town asked a favor of me, I'm simply helping them out. You're probably completely harmless, but refusing to answer isn't exactly helping your case, now is it, punk?"

"Well, Ganju," Sasori began reasonably. "Whether or not I seem suspicious or harmless to you is none of my concern."

"Why you-"

Ganju would have continued, but Sasori had acted before he could complete whatever annoying thing he would have continued to say. Sasori used the grip that he had on the other man's arm to move his body so that his back faced the other man's front. Sasori caught a glimpse of the man's widened eyes and smirked. Sasori moved fast and used the man's weight to throw him over his shoulder.

"Like I said," Sasori said, looking down at the stunned man and then looking over his shoulder at Ganju's equally stunned companions. "I'm really just passing through."

Sasori passed by the stunned men and continued down the road. He ignored the shuffling on the ground behind him and kept walking at a steady pace.

"He-Hey!" he heard Ganju yell. "Hey, come back here!"

Sasori rolled his eyes and prepared himself to run. Although the boars that the men had been riding were fairly fast, Sasori had been exercising daily with his new body and he had gotten his speed back up to respectable levels for a shinobi, meaning that the five boar riders behind him didn't stand a chance. Of course, his stamina wasn't what it used to be, but he could keep it up long enough to out-run the idiots and their hogs.

Sasori directed some energy to the bottoms of his feet and he flew down the path, ignoring the yells and the pig squeals coming from behind him. He really did hate dealing with idiots.


	8. Chapter 8

Sasori wandered around the area of the next town over. The situation at the last town that he had visited had been weird and he didn't want a repeat to occur. Luckily, he hadn't caught sight of any hog riders patrolling the town, so that seemed to be a plus. And even though this town wasn't as nice as the one that he had been living in before, it showed more promise than the last one.

After assessing the situation from some of the tall trees that over looked the town, Sasori decided that it might be worth it to find a place to eat and _maybe _look into some jobs. Perhaps he would ask if there was any place he could pick up some tools and supplies. It had already been a week or so since he had finished his preliminary puppet and he wanted to start planning another one. He wouldn't be able to make anything _too_ big since it would take a while to make (and he didn't want to dawdle in one place for too long) and he didn't want to have to carry it around if he was going to continue to do a lot of heavy traveling in the near future.

Perhaps he would simply make something that was similar in size to the puppet he had already made, but add on attachments so that he could practice with those as well. It couldn't hurt to check if there was some sort of apothecary either. Creating a poison or two would certainly put Sasori in a better mood.

So Sasori leaped from his perch and began walking steadily towards the new town. He forced himself to look as non-threatening as possible (not very hard in a scrawny sixteen year old body) and didn't immediately begin asking people anything, since these people looked as if they were almost as twitchy as the last bunch. Sasori figured he would wander around for a bit and hopefully he would stumble upon some place where he could get some food and listen in on the gossip that the locals were spouting. If there was one thing that he had learned while playing shop-boy was that no matter where you were, people loved to gossip and would do so until the end of time.

Sasori finally found a quite little place to eat that Sasori was sure that he would be able to afford easily with the money he had saved up. He sat down at one of the tables and waited to be noticed by one of the servers.

"Why, hello there, young man," one of the patrons sitting next to him greeted him kindly.

Sasori turned his head to look at the old man with the largest beard that he had ever seen. The man was sitting by himself with a cup of tea and a large smile on his face. Sasori stared at the man for a few seconds before deciding to be cordial and nodded his head in return.

"It's a fine day isn't it?" the man continued after being acknowledged. Sasori gave a grunt in response, preparing himself to be bored to death.

"My name's Sanousuke, I'm a regular here, but I've never seen you before," the man, Sanousuke continued as he got up and sat down across from Sasori. Sasori simply raised an eyebrow at the man, but let him sit. At least he was getting somewhere with one of the locals this time.

"Sasori, I'm passing through," Sasori said in short, clipped tones.

The man looked delighted to have gotten some information out of the young man. It seemed that Sanousuke was no different than the many customers he had served while working in the teashop with Nobuko. It didn't matter much though, even if it did irk him that someone would come talk to him so easily, because he had planned on using someone for information anyway.

"Is that so, Sasori," Sanousuke said cheerfully. "Do you have any business in town?"

Sasori looked thoughtful before responding. He didn't want to come off to strong. It would be best to keep the conversation as casual as he could and not raise any suspicions.

"I was just looking for a place to eat, really," Sasori shrugged. "Maybe stop by a place to pick up some stuff, see if there's any odd jobs that need to be done for some quick cash."

The older man looked thoughtful and stroked his long, beard with a fragile, pale hand.

"Well, you've come to the right place for food," Sanousuke said, turning to wave at one of the waitresses.

"Roriko! This young man would like some food!"

In response to the old man, a youngish looking woman peeked from one of the doorways, the one that probably led to the kitchen, and looked around for a moment before focusing in on the old man. A slightly harassed look flitted on her face, but her face smoothed itself out before she made her way over to the pair.

"Sorry, sirs," the woman, Roriko, apologized while giving the two a deep bow. "But we're having some difficulties in the kitchen. It should be cleared up soon."

"No problem, no problem," the old man said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Your order?" the woman looked at Sasori with an eyebrow inquisitively raised.

"Some tea, please," Sasori responded immediately. "And something to eat as well. I'm not picky about what."

The waitress nodded and scurried back into the kitchen. Sanousuke raised his eyebrows in Sasori's direction.

"You like to eat do you?" the man asked conversationally, a little bit of surprise coloring his voice.

Sasori shrugged.

"It's an expensive habit, you know," the old man chided, taking a sip of his tea before continuing. "Especially for someone who looks like they intend to travel a lot."

Again, Sasori shrugged, but replied, "That's why I'm looking for a couple of jobs."

The man's brows furrowed in thought at this, as if he truly intended on helping Sasori with his goal. Sasori guessed that this guy was either really bored or had a lot of time on his hands... probably a little bit of both.

"Well, usually, I don't think there's a great need for that kind of help around here," Sanousuke told him after some quiet contemplation while scratching at his impressive beard. "But, if you're interested in sticking around for another day or so, we'll be having an annual village festival soon enough. A lot of stuff goes on around this time and I'm sure some people might be looking for an extra helping hand."

Sasori seriously considered this and quickly came to the conclusion that sticking around for a couple of days certainly wouldn't hurt if he could get some kind of compensation for it.

"Plus, I'm sure if you could offer some kind of entertainment while the festival is taking place, you'd make a lot of money," the man suggested. "A lot of the teenagers come up with street acts to make a little extra money. Since everyone saves up for days like the ones coming up, everyone usually parts with their money more easily than they usually do."

Sasori raised his eyebrows in response to this suggestion. Sanousuke had obviously put him in the category of 'teenager looking for quick cash' which was true, in a way, although he seriously doubted that he and the local teenagers had the same intentions in mind when they were looking for some extra spending money.

"That sounds like a good idea," Sasori told the man, who looked happy that he been of use to someone.

If Sanousuke or Sasori had wanted to say anything else in the next few moments, it would have been cut off from the arrival of the waitress. Sasori sat patiently as Roriko set his tea and bowl of rice and miso soup down in front of him. Sasori quirked an eyebrow a little bit at what the woman had chosen for him, but he mentally shrugged. It would do for a meal and wouldn't cost him much money, even though he wasn't particularly fond of miso soup.

"Will there be anything else, sirs?" the waitress asked politely, her hands clasped in front of her modestly.

"I don't think so Roriko," the man said tentatively while sending a questioning look towards Sasori. Sasori shook his head and picked up the pair of wooden chopsticks that had been set down in front of his rice bowl.

Roriko bowed and turned to leave, but Sanousuke called her back with a small shout of her name, his voice indicating that he had thought of something last minute.

"Actually, Roriko, there might be something that you could help us with," the old man said thoughtfully. Both Sasori and the waitress turned their attention to the man, waiting for him to continue.

"This young man is looking for some work, just a quick job or two, and I thought that someone might be looking for some help since our annual festival is coming up," Sanousuke began. Roriko nodded her head thoughtfully, giving Sasori an assessing sweeping look. Probably trying to figure out what he might be able to do to help out.

"I think that Mr. Tanaka is looking for someone to help set up his stall this year. His son had been helping him the year before, but he's working with his friends on something else," Roriko told him.

"Where can I find him?" Sasori asked.

"It's just down the street to the right when you step out of here," Roriko said. "The front of his house has his family name written on it, so it shouldn't be hard to find. Just tell him that Roriko sent you to help him out."

Sasori nodded, showing that he understood. Roriko, seeing that there was no reason for her to stick around any longer, turned and headed back towards the kitchen.

"Well now," Sanousuke began, draining the last of his tea and set it onto the table. "I'm glad that you've got that all sorted out. Is there anything else that you need to know?"

Sasori considered asking him if there was some kind of place where he could pick up chemicals, but he figured that might put him under the 'suspicious' category. Since he would be spending some more time here and now had a legitimate excuse to stick around, he would look into it later.

"Not really," Sasori replied picking up the soup spoon to begin eating his miso.

"Ah, I guess I'll take my leave then," Sanousuke said, getting up and leaving some coins on the table as he did. "Maybe I'll see you around in the next few days."

Sasori shrugged and gave a small wave to the old man as he left. He figured he should have thanked the old man or something, but all of his politeness had dried up a couple of days ago.

'After this,' Sasori thought to himself as he picked up the small bowl to finish his soup. 'I guess I'll be going to see a man about a job. Hopefully I won't run into anymore problems.'

Sasori thought of the idiot that he had encountered the day before, Ganju. It had to be the single most bizarre incident that he had experienced since waking up after his death. If he was lucky, he wouldn't run into the bulky man and his man again anytime soon.


	9. Chapter 9

Sasori realized what the waitress had meant when she said that he couldn't miss it. It seemed that Tanaka had painted his family name in bright orange on the side of his house. Under it, in blue, the word 'blacksmith' was written. Sasori raised a brow. He hadn't seen colors that obnoxious since he had met the nine-tail brat, Naruto Uzumaki. What kind of man was he going to associating himself with?

Sasori sighed and walked up to the door. Having a job was better than not having one. It would only be a day or two, but Sasori knew from personal experience that a day or two doing a job with people you hated could be a hellish experience. Sasori reflectively thought back on his time as Orochimaru's literal partner in crime. Yeah, that had not been fun. Expecially when the snake man had figured out that Hiruko was not his actual body and that he actually had the body of a young boy. Not fun at all.

He knocked on the door, almost hestitating, but hesitation now was pointless. It wasn't like he really had a choice in all this. He was going to need more money eventually, so it would be wise to seize every opportunity while he still could.

Sasori flinched slightly when he heard a couple of loud bangs coming from inside the small house, but he didn't jump when the door suddenly banged open, revealing a slightly grimy, but relatively average looking man peering at him from the threshold.

"Who are you?" the person that Sasori assumed was Mr. Tanaka asked bluntly.

"I'm Sasori. Roriko sent me. She said that you might be looking for someone to help you out," Sasori told him as politely as he could muster, even giving a shallow bow for effect. It would do him no good to piss off a potential employer, even if this one did seem a little unorthodox.

"Is that so?" the man asked curiously, dropping his guard as he stepped out of the house a little bit. "Roriko, you say?"

Sasori nodded and the man looked at him critcally while rubbing his nose with a black smudged hand.

"Well, she wouldn't have sent you over if she hadn't thought you were good for the job, I guess," Tanaka began, looking a little reluctant as he rubbed the back of his head. "Do you know the kind of work that I need help with?"

"Something about an upcoming festival?" Sasori responded.

Tanaka nodded and said, "Yeah, if you couldn't tell, I'm the resident blacksmith."

At this, he pointed at the glaringly obvious neon bright sign next to him.

"I'll be setting up a booth with some of my stuff in two days during the festival," Tanaka told him. "But I don't have enought time to put the finishing touches on everything _and _to build my booth. Plus I'll need someone to help me carry everything out there. Normally I'd get my son to help me, but he's got his own plans this year."

Tanaka crossed his arms at this and gave a displeased 'harrumph'.

"So, you good with your hands?" Tanaka went on, looking at Sasori's slim figure sceptically. Sasori fought the urge to smirk.

"I've got experience," Sasori told him.

"Well, we'll see," Tanaka conceded. "I'll pay you after the job is done. In the meantime, since you don't look like you're from around here, I'll put you up with a room. How does that sound?"

Sasori hadn't really planned on where he was going to be staying. In all honesty, he would probably just be staying in the woods or something, like he had for the past week. But if the man was offering, why refuse?

"That sounds fine," Sasori told him.

Tanaka grinned and rubbed at his nose again, making the smudge marks on his nose even more pronounced.

"Good. Well, if you've got all your stuff, let's get you settled in and started."

True to Sasori's estimations, when he had first heard of what was required of him, it only took him a day to finish making the booth. Tanaka had been impressed and had even let him keep the left over nails and wood that Sasori had managed not to waste.

"Are you going to be sticking around for the whole festival? It goes on for a couple of days, you know," Tanaka had asked him at the end of the day before the actual festivities began.

Sasori shrugged as he helped the blacksmith carry large crates of his merchandise to the front room of the house.

"Maybe."

"Perhaps you could even some preformance like my fool son his doing," Tanaka suggested. "You seem like a resourceful guy, I'm sure that you could think of something to do to make a little extra cash. But if that doesn't work out, you could always help me at my both. I'd pay you a little extra."

Sasori considered both options. If he was completely honest, he hadn't really given much thought about staying for the full festival. Tanaka was going to be paying him decent amount for the job that he had done, so it wasn't like this whole thing had been a waste of time.

"I'll think about it," Sasori gave his vague reply.

Tanaka gave a displeased grunt in response, realizing when he was being brushed off, although he didn't say anything else on the subject.

Sasori seriously thought about it later that night, however. The question was, did he really want to degrade himself to the status of a preforming monkey? On the other hand, money was money, and even though he was starting to sound more and more like Kakuzu, he did have a potentially marketable performance skill. After all, puppetry had started out as a form of entertainment, it probably wouldn't be _too_ degrading if he used his puppets to entertain a couple of townsfolk during a festival. He had the first puppet that he had made at Nobuko's with him still, but with the extra supplies Tanaka had given him, he had already started on another that looked similar, but was more flexible and had other handy functions intergrated in its small form. Perhaps he could think of something to do with the both of them before tomorrow...

Sasori huffed a little along with Tanaka as they moved his boxes to the booth that had been set earlier that morning.

Tanaka breathed heavily as he let the box drop down onto the booth and told Sasori that he could leave if he wanted to.

"It looks like you've got somewhere that you want to be," Tanaka said. "You don't have to stay."

"Alright then," Sasori said. "I'll come back at around noon in case you want to take a break."

Tanaka raised his eyebrows in surprise at this. Sasori hadn't let him know yet that he was staying for the rest of the festival, but Tanaka had kind of gotten the feeling that Sasori would stay anyway. If only for the extra money that he would be getting by helping out.

"Okay, see you around noon," Tanaka nodded at Sasori as he started organizing his wares.

Sasori headed back to the house where he had left his puppets by the front door. He had finished the second puppet late last night and he had until the streets became crowded to think up a routine to entertain the mindless crowds. He didn't think that he would have too much trouble, but it hardly mattered. He was sure that no one could do what he could in this world. Very few people in his own world could control puppets with the techniques that he used. Unfortunately, this also brought up the problem of whether or not this would make the people here suspicious.

Sasori figured that he would have to make his routine light-hearted and funny enough so that it distracted people. He had two puppets now so he could probably act out some sort of scene that was comical enough for children, the ideal audience in this case. Perhaps he would have them act out a dance or some kind of theatrical fight. Sasori found a nodescripit corner just outside the main hustle and bustle of activity and began to practice.

* * *

"Have you seen this one performer!" a random villager exclaimed loudly enough that it caught Tanaka's attention from his booth.

He had been making plenty of profit with the little trinkets and larger items he had been selling to show off his skill, but at the moment there was a lull in the crowd as the lunchtime hour grew near. Tanaka raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his table, trying to listen more closely.

"He's amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" the same villager was telling his bemused friend.

"What's his routine?" the friend asked as they passed by Tanaka's booth.

"These weird puppets!" the first one said, trying to urge his friend to go faster. "It looks like he controls them without any strings and they can do some pretty neat stuff too!"

"Fine, fine."

Tanaka looked in the direction they were headed and he found that he had to double take when he saw the large crowd that had amassed just around the corner. The crowd was cheering and growing in size the longer Tanaka stood there watching.

'I wonder where Sasori is,' Tanaka wondered, hoping that he would come soon so that he could see what was going on as well. 'I've never seen the villagers so hyped up about a street show before.'

"Hey, Dad."

Tanaka was startled by the sudden voice to his left, but turned to raise both of his eyebrows at his downtrodden looking son.

"Chojiro? I haven't seen you in a couple of days, what are you doing here?" Tanaka asked curiously.

Chojiro simply sighed heavily as he went behind the booth and sat down on one of the crates.

"It didn't work out," Chojiro said, obviously sulking. The baby fat that was still on his face made him look even more ridiculous. In all honesty, Tanaka knew that his son wouldn't have done brilliantly with the little side show he had worked on with his friends. But he had figured that it was good thing that his lazy son was taking some kind of initiative and was trying to do something for himself. Tanaka figured that even if it didn't work out too well, Chojiro would be having a good time with his friends and he would maybe discover a little something about himself. Plus, if he had forced him to help him out during the festival, the end results probably wouldn't have been pretty.

"What didn't?" Tanaka asked curiously. "You guys were practicing for a while, did you get cold feet?"

Chojiro his his increasingly pouty face by slumping his head onto the table and burying his frowning mouth into crossed arms.

"No," came the muffled reply, Chojiro moved his head so that his chin was laying on top of his forearms.

"We started out fine, but then everyone caught word of this other guy that was _awesome_," Chojiro said, rolling his eyes.

Tanaka stifled a chuckle and looked breifly in the direction of the large crowd that was still quite large and blocking the main portion of the road.

"Awesome, you say?"

"Yeah," Chojiro said. "Some puppet guy that just came to town. No one knows where he's from, but apparently he's _oh so _talented."

At this Chojiro started to mumble some things under his breath. Probably some unflattering things about the 'puppet guy' and his talent.

"Why'd he have to come into town _now_?" Chojiro complained.

"I'm not sure," Tanaka shrugged. "Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways."

"Uh-huh," Chojiro scoffed, his tone indicating that he didn't really beileve his father. "Sure. Why not?"

"Well, if you've got nothing to do now, would you mind keeping an eye on the booth?" Tanaka asked cheerfully, slapping his son on the back.

"What?" Chojiro exclaimed, his body now standing up pin straight. "Wait! Dad! Wha- why?"

"Well, to check out what's going on, of course!" Tanaka pointed towards the mass of people that were clearly visible from around the corner.

"You can't!" Chojiro looked panicked now and confused, his eyes were wild.

"Sure, I can," Tanaka said, patting Chojiro on the back, his voice and movements were calm. "Now that I've got you here to look after things."

"B-But..Dad!" Chojiro protested.

"Now, now, Cho," Tanaka tutted with good humor. "I've got a right to a little break. Besides I think I might know who this one is, if my hunch is correct."

Afterall, Sasori had put a couple of interesting wooden figures next to his door before they had left home that morning. Tanaka had questioned him about it, but the young man had simply shrugged. It never ceased to amaze him that although Sasori seemed to be around the same age as his son, he was infintely more worldly, experienced, and capable. Not to mention his personality was completely different from his bumbling son's. Tanaka was hoping that this part of Chojiro's character would change in time, but it now, after so long, it seemed unlikely.

"Daaadddd!"

Tanaka chuckled as he jogged down the street towards the crowd that he been watching for quite some time. He used his elbows to work his way through the crowd, standing on his tiptoes to try and look over the heads of the people swarming the puppeteer. Tanaka cursed his slightly below average height and used his elbows a little more. Tanaka soon realized that the crowd was so big because they were giving the puppeteer a wide berth so that he had enough room for a stage. He was able to peek his head between the shoulders of two other men and they hardly noticed him due to their own boisterous clapping and cheering. Tanaka grinned when he saw the bright red hair and the familiar dark red kimono clad figure it was attached to.

'I knew it!' Tanaka thought as he grinned widely as he took in the dramatic little show that the small puppets were performing in front of them. Tanaka cheered along with all the others and grinned even wider when he saw all of the money that was being thrown at Sasori.

'He's really doing well for himself, isn't he?' Tanaka thought. The little figures were now enacting an epic battle of sorts, the two of them running around the 'stage', the movements so realistic that you could practically imagine the kind of people that would be having this kind of fight. Well, sort of. It wasn't as if anyone in this town would actually know something like that, but it definitely gave them a great chance to use their imaginations.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now," Sasori told the crowd, his low voice somehow managing to cut through the noise of the entire crowd.

Predictably many of the people started protesting, loudly.

"I'll be here at the same time tomorrow," Sasori insisted as he collected his puppets and all the money that had thrown at the ground. Tanaka watched, amused, as several people went up to the irritable looking young man. They looked as if they were either trying to convince him to continue performing or thanking him. Either way, it looked like Sasori was going to fly into a murderous rage sooner rather than later.

Tanaka ran up to the small group that had formed around Sasori and made good use of his elbows once again.

"Sasori!" he called, catching the attention of the red head as well as the people around him. "There you are!"

Tanaka walked up to his side and placed a hand onto his shoulder.

"I need your help back at the booth. Since you're finished up here, mind helping me out?" Tanaka gave Sasori a cheeky grin.

Sasori rolled his eyes, but gave a grunt in agreement.

"Very well then," he said to Tanaka. "Goodbye."

Tanaka winced at the icy tone, but luckily his newest fans hadn't picked up on it and gradually cleared a path for the two of them to walk through. Tanaka put his arm around Sasori's shoulders, guiding him through, ignoring the slight glare that this action had gotten him.

Once they were far enough a way and half way to the booth where Chojiro was still sulking, Tanaka looked back to make sure that they were all dispersing and let out a sigh.

"Wow, Sasori," Tanaka said, taking his arm off of Sasori's shoulders, much to his relief. "You got real popular, real fast, didn't you?"

Sasori shrugged, but said, "I guess."

The little bag that he had put all of his earnings in jingled slightly. Tanaka eyed the obese looking bag curiously.

"How much do you think you got?" Tanaka asked conversationally.

Sasori shrugged again, not really caring for the mindless conversation.

"A lot, I suppose."

When they reached the booth, Chojiro scowled at Sasori, although Tanaka wasn't sure if it was because he knew that the red head was the one that had taken away whatever audience he had been getting or if he was just being his usual surly self.

"Oh, Chojiro, I guess you haven't met Sasori yet. He's been helping me out for the past couple of days," Tanaka said happily as he gave Sasori one last pat on the shoulder.

Chojiro scowled some more and grunted his greeting before reburying his face into his rolled his eyes and looked to Tanaka.

"Did you need me here?" Sasori asked, a questioning eyebrow raised.

"Not really, now that Chojiro's here," Tanaka told him as he sorted through some of his things. "You can still stick around, of course. I did promise you that if you helped me out, you could stay longer."

"Fine," Sasori said as he sat down at the booth and crossed his arms. Chojiro was giving him a glare from underneath the hair that was obscuring his eyes.

"I'm going to get some lunch. Do you boys want anything?" Tanaka asked. He grinned when both of them flinched when he called them 'boys'.

"Sure," Sasori answered for the both of them. Chojiro glared at the other some more, but reluctantly nodded his head as well.

"Alright then," Tanaka said. "I heard that there's a great placed to get some grilled eel just around the corner. I'll be back in no time!"

The scene that Tanaka left behind him was certainly the funniest thing he had seen in sometime. His moody son with a dark cloud hanging over his head was glaring at the stoic red head counting the money that he had earned not too long ago. Maybe Chojiro _did_ know that Sasori was the one that had gotten that huge crowd.

Tanaka laughed to himself some more. Things certainly were more interesting around this time of year.

* * *

_This chapter is severely unedited, let me know if anything looks too screwy. I'll come back later and fix it up. I'm honestly just putting it in for the word count. _


	10. Chapter 10

Kuukaku sat down heavily at one of the tables.

"I want a beer!" she yelled and several of the waitresses jumped looking over at the young fireworks master with the false limb.

"Coming right up, Lady Kuukaku!" One of the braver waitresses cried as she made her way towards the kitchen.

Kuukaku grumbled a little bit as she used her good arm to take out her pipe and lit it. She inhaled, making the embers at the end of it glow brighter, and exhaled with a sigh. It had been a long day for the eldest Shiba. Dealing with her younger brother was always a trial for her, but doing so when his pride had been wounded was always annoying beyond belief. He had spent all day loafing around, sulking, no matter how many times she kicked him in the back.

She had tried to weasel what had happened out of him, but the only thing that she was able to get was that it had happened in the next town over while he was gallivanting around with his stupid friends while riding his fat pig. Kuukaku rolled her eyes and scowlwed, pushing out another breath and the tendrils of smoke swirled around her terrifying the townspeople even more.

"Here you are Lady Kuukaku!"

The waitress had finally come back with her alcohol and as soon as the younger girl had placed the sizable pint down onto the table, Kuukaku had picked it up and drained a large portion of it. Thankfully, the establish was well used to the odd habits of the local fireworks woman, even if the customers were less so, and the waitress simply went to the back to get another beer ready. It seemed that the Lady Shiba was _not_ in a good mood. They might even have to contact her two assistants, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko, to help drag the soon-to-be drunk out of her without making _too_ much of a fuss.

"Starting in early are you?"

"Hahh?" Kuukaku sounded rudely as she stopped chugging her booze to glare at the one that had decided to disturb her when she was in one of her moods. She startled when she realized who was sitting in front of her.

"Tanaka?" Kuukaku asked, sipping at her nearly completed beer. "Yukimaru Tanaka?"

"The one and the same," the blacksmith grinned as he sat down across from her, slamming his own beer down on the table in front of him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kuukaku asked rudely, although notably not as rudely as she would have to most. The regulars and the staff realized this and went back to what they were doing, having been startled when Tanaka had decided to poke a ticking time bomb with a lit match. However, Tanaka just shrugged and took a gulp of his drink.

"It was a long day," Tanaka explained. "You know, with the festival and all. I decided to take a break."

"Oh, yeah?" Kuukaku said, her tone curious as she raised an eyebrow. "How did you do on the first day?"

"Not bad," Tanaka replied with a ridiculous smile on his face making Kuukaku think that he had done better than Tanaka was letting on. "I just came here to wind down, my son's been sulking up a storm, and as hilarious as that can be for the first twenty minutes, it gets a little tiring after you here the sixtieth sigh."

"Really?" Kuukaku asked, thinking on her own problems with her brother. "What set him off?"

Tanaka chuckled a little into his glass before answering.

"Oh, the usual," Tanaka told her. "Chojiro tried to perform with his friends for the festival, but someone else attracted all of the crowds away with something better."

Kuukaku laughed at the thought of Tanaka's stupid lump of a son actually doing something interesting or useful.

"Who was the guy?"

"That was what actually made the whole thing even better," Tanaka said, his grin wider than ever. "It turns out that the kid I hired to help me out during the festival was the one that made a killing doing some puppet show that drove everyone wild. He's pretty handy to have around too."

Kuukaku gave Tanaka a blank stare at this, feeling a disgusted sigh working its way up from the back of her throat.

"Puppets?" Kuukaku asked incredulously. "That's what's got everyone worked up. Some kid and a couple of puppets?"

"Well, it's not as simple as that," Tanaka said, trying to defend all the hype that was following around his newest house guest. "It's the way that he does it really."

"How does he do it then?" Kuukaku asked, more out of the commitment to continue the conversation along rather than out of actual interest. "I mean, seriously, wooden toys and a couple of strings. What's the big deal?"

Tanaka huffed and crossed his arms, brows furrowing as he sensed the complete lack of interest that he was getting from the other side of the conversation.

"That's the thing, he doesn't _use_ strings," Tanaka told her. "They're stringless, although he still controls them somehow."

"What?" Kuukaku's interest in the conversation had just been revived and now she looked more confused than anything trying to figure out the logic in that statement. "That's not possible."

"It doesn't sound like it could, does it?" Tanaka admitted. "But I swear that's what happened. Now that I think about it, I remember seeing his hands twitching a lot, but he wasn't holding anything in his hands."

"The strings were probably just attached to his fingers," Kuukaku dismissed with a wave of her hand, turning her body to the side so that she could lean into the corner of her booth and cross her legs. "And there is such a thing as invisible wires you know. I know it doesn't _look _like there's anything there, but if you look closely enough-"

"I know what invisible wires are," Tanaka said, his voice had the flat tone that practically screamed 'what-do-you-think-that-I'm-an-idiot-or-something?'. "And that would make sense if the puppets had stayed right by his feet the entire time."

"What do you mean?" Kuukaku asked bringing the beer to her lips once more as she an eyebrow in curiosity at this new rebuttal.

"I mean that the puppets were all over the place. They looked like they were _alive_," Tanaka said, using enough emphasis that it made Kuukaku want to grit her teeth. "If they were on strings, they sure didn't look like it. I'm pretty sure that things that you can't control something six feet away from you with some invisible wires."

"You'd be surprised," Kuukaku muttered under her breath.

"At least not the way he was doing it," Tanaka said quickly, overriding Kuukaku so that she wouldn't interrupt the flow of his argument.

"Haaa..." Kuukaku sighed, dumping some of the ashes out of the pipe that she had been neglecting for the past few minutes.

"What's he look like?"

Tanaka blinked a little at the suddenness of the random question, but he smirked when he realized that he had won the argument. Kuukaku's eyes narrowed when she realized what the man was thinking.

'_For now_...' she swore in her mind. '_You won this time, but later...'_

"He's fairly young looking," Tanaka said, shrugging. "I think he's older than he looks though. He certainly acts like a crotchety old man most of the time. He's fairly slender too. I honestly didn't think he'd be much help lifting things, but he proved me wrong pretty fast. Shaggy bright red hair and brown eyes... he's a bit of a pretty boy, but you once you actually talk to him, that spell disappears real fast."

"So he's a grumpy, pretty boy?" Kuukaku summed up. "And you really think that he's 'older than he looks'? Sounds like the standard teenage idiot to me."

Tanaka rolled his eyes, but answered, "You just have to meet him to understand. When I have a conversation with him I feel like I'm talking to some one my age, not like I'm talking to my son."

"...Is that so?" Kuukaku asked rather skeptically, thinking of being able to have a normal conversation with her own brother like she did with her old friend Yoruichi.

"Well, Kuukaku, I guess I'll see you around," Tanaka said, getting up while draining the last of his drink.

"Yeah, alright," Kuukaku said, staying seated. "Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow or something."

Tanaka waved to her as he walked out the door. Kuukaku took a deep drag on her pipe as she thought of what she had been told. It certainly was one of the weirder things she had heard of in quite some time and it was definitely worth looking into.

* * *

_For those of you who keep asking about the timeline (or for those who might've wondered, but never asked), this is set _before_ the main events of the series. I wasn't very sure about this until recently (hence why I never gave any indication about when the story took place)_, _but it won't matter for another couple of chapters anyway. Thanks for reading and please review!_


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